AusQuest Limited (ASX: AQD)
INCREASED FUNDS FOR
EXPLORATION FOLLOWING
EXERCISE OF RIO TINTO OPTIONS
Further to its release of 1 May
2008, AusQuest Limited (ASX: AQD) is pleased to welcome Hamersley Holdings
Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Limited, as a substantial
shareholder in the Company following the exercise of 5 million 2008 options
exercisable at 40 cents.
The exercise of the options has
realised A$2 million in additional funds, further strengthening the
Company�s cash position and enabling it to further increase its exploration
activities for manganese (Table Hill � WA), gold (Diamantina � QLD) and iron
ore (Tom Price-Paraburdoo � WA).
As a result of the option exercise,
Hamersley Holdings has increased its interest in AusQuest from 3.74% previously
to 6.9%. The Company reported cash reserves of approximately $8.0 million as at
31 March 2008.
Drilling Commencing on Several
Fronts
Drilling at the Company�s 100%-owned
Table Hill Manganese Project, which is located 200km east of Newman in
Western Australia, is due to commence in the second half of May 2008 following
minor delays in drill rig availability. The Company has been advised that the
drill rig should mobilise from Perth
the week commencing 19th May, with drilling to start around the end of that week.
The drilling programme will comprise
approximately 15 widely spaced drill-holes (~1,200m x 800m), and has been
designed to test the grade, thickness and continuity of the high-grade
manganese mineralisation (3.9m @ 47.5% Mn) intersected in November 2007.
The original drill-hole (THD01) was sited to test a laterally extensive (18km�)
electromagnetic target outlined by an airborne GEOTEM survey.
Drilling at AusQuest�s Diamantina
iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) project, which is located approximately 450km
south of Mt Isa in west Queensland,
is scheduled to commence in mid May 2008. It is estimated that the pre-collar
(~800 to 1,000 metres) for the first drillhole will take approximately 3 to 4
weeks to complete with diamond drilling of the target zone scheduled to start
in the second half of June 2008.
Drilling is targeting strong
coincident gravity/magnetic anomalies which the Company believes are consistent
with large-scale IOCG systems known elsewhere in Australia to contain copper, gold
and uranium mineralisation (eg, Olympic Dam and Ernest Henry).
In addition, exploration for iron
ore in the Tom Price-Paraburdoo region of WA will be increased following a
review by the Company�s consultants. Drill programmes are planned for the
second half of 2008 (pending drill rig availability) to test for iron ore
associated with buried Marra Mamba Iron Formation within the Company�s Nameless
Project and channel iron close to infrastructure at Tom Price and Paraburdoo.
Beneficiation test-work on drill
core from the Rocklea channel iron prospect, located 40km west of Tom Price,
has also provided encouragement for continued evaluation of this prospect.
Results showed a calcined (ex LOI) product grading approximately 64.4% Fe, 4.1%
SiO2, and 2.1% Al2O3 can be produced by a combination of raw
analysis, and wet tumbling and screening of the materials.
The Board of AusQuest is looking
forward to the commencement of the 2008 drilling programme and reporting the
results as they become available.
Graeme Drew
Managing Director
COMPETENT PERSON�S STATEMENT
The details
contained in this report that pertain to exploration results are based upon
information compiled by Mr Graeme Drew, a full-time employee of AusQuest
Limited. Mr Drew is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy (AUSIMM) and has sufficient experience in the activity which he is
undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the December 2004
edition of the �Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves� (JORC Code). Mr Drew consents to the inclusion in
the report of the matters based upon his information in the form and context in
which it appears.
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